I wrote the post below as a Note on facebook on December 2nd, 2013:
This year past I had 52 strips of paper in a fancy jar on my
fireplace mantel, each with something that I was supposed to do. My
intention was to draw a piece of paper each Tuesday for the year and
perform the task.
Some of the things on the papers
were chores, like Every day this week before you go to bed, wash the
dishes. Some were things like Find a project on Pinterest that you have
never done before and make it.
Some were fun
things, some were treats, some were good habits that I wanted to start.
Some were things I felt I just needed a little nudge to get going on -
like organizing my clothes closet or getting the Christmas list started.
I
pulled a piece of paper every Tuesday until the end of June. And then
things got busy and it fell by the wayside. However, I did a pile of
them without pulling the papers - I went through them this evening to
see how many I had left and which ones I had done without waiting to get
the paper out.
I'm going to list them, just for the heck of it.
44.
Go out with the binoculars and look at the stars and planets one clear
night this week. What did you see? (We managed to locate Jupiter and its
four biggest moons - I was THRILLED to pieces!)
13.
Throw out, or give away, three things you haven't used for more than 2
years. (We have a place called Rotary House here, and they accept
donations. I have taken several bags of things to them this year -
notably, a pair of mirrors for a car to help when pulling a trailer - we
have a truck now, and don't need them. When I went through my closet, I
got rid of several pieces of clothing, the same when I went through my
chest of drawers!)
3. Every day this week, move one
thing back where it belongs. (This is an on-going problem for me. Not,
unfortunately, cured by this slip of paper... LOL)
38.
Make a project that you have pinned to Pinterest this week. It doesn't
matter whether it is quilting or not. (Sashiko patterns made their way
onto mug rugs)
33. Invite some friends in to play
Euchre. (Marion and Steve came over, it was great - it was also quite
awhile ago! Must do that again!)
25. Spend an evening with Barry. Watch a movie, talk, plan. (Easy - we do this frequently... and we talk while we walk as well.)
19.
Invite Mom and Dad over for dinner one day this week. (Did this the
week of their anniversary, except we invited ourselves over there and
took dinner with us.)
51. Go to the beach!!! Take a
photo. Walk in the water, if you can. (I have several beach albums on
fb. This was prompted because the first summer we were actually IN the
house, it was a beautiful summer but we were finishing patios and
putting in gardens and things and we didn't go to the beach once! I even
went to the beach and put my feet in the water while there was still
ICE in the Northumberland Strait!)
43. Buy a quilt
pattern book for yourself this week. It must have at least two patterns
that you intend to use in it! (I don't buy quilt magazines as often as I
used to - but this is my steadfast rule - it needs to have at least two
things that I like in it!!)
18. Tidy up the shelves in
the garage. Make some labels. Figure out how it ought to work. (I have
tidied and figured it out. I haven't made the labels yet. I did,
however, make labels for the shelves in my closet... does that count?)
31. Go to see a movie. (Despicable Me, Too. It was wonderful!)
20.
Work on one non-quilting project every day this week. Pick ONE and work
on it. (I worked on a lovely needlepoint kit that I have - I toted it
around for a couple of weeks this summer and I made a bit of headway...
it takes awhile to get those things done!)
41. Try two
new dessert recipes this week. (I did try two new ones - probably not in
the same week... I made a new low carb chocolate peanut butter sauce
for ice cream that is to die for... and I made a Chocolate pie that is
really good - had to do that one twice - I'm sure there was an error in
the original recipe)
26. Learn something new this week. Document it. (Sock monkeys - they were great...)
17. Call a friend you haven't spoken with for awhile, just to say hi! (Did that not too long ago!)
So
I wasn't perfect with the Jar of Inspiration. However, I certainly did
far and away the majority of things on the slips in there... And it did
get the closet cleaned out, and instilled one great habit that I have
been trying to form for years! (Washing the dishes before bed!) And I
did have a paper that suggested I take a walk each day (for 15 minutes,
as I recall) for a week - and I have walked 1681 km now (above and
beyond the normal steps I would take in the course of a day) so that one
appears to have 'taken' too. I have had fun with the whole thing, which
was at least part of the point! I have a few things left in the jar -
and I'll try to get them done before the end of the year.
There
are still things that I would like to do and still things that I feel
would be good habits. I'm thinking I will try something a bit different
next year. Maybe 12 things that I would like to do - one for each
month... And I definitely think that it is important to have something
fun/new/adventurous/exciting/caring to do once in awhile!
Thursday, 2 January 2014
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Just a Sashiko
This whole exercise started on May 1st, 2004. I know that because the
paperwork that came with the class that I took was dated. Just above
the equipment list was a note that read: At the end of the class, each
participant will go home with a nearly completed project. My first
project took two days. The first one was May 1st, 2004 and the second
one was a Tuesday in the Spring of 2010 at an open workshop day at the
Northumberland Quilt Guild... (So she was absolutely right.)
Last spring my mother asked me for a Sashiko. She liked my wall hanging and would like to have one done on blue fabric (which is actually the traditional colour.) Shortly thereafter, I bought some dark blue plain cotton and some actual Sashiko thread at Avonport Discount Fabric. I know that it was made for sashiko because it was with kits of pre-stamped sashiko fabric. All of the writing on the package was in Japanese and the only part that I could read was 100 - which I presumed to say 100% cotton.
In September (her birthday is in October) I remembered her request, found the fabric, the thread and, after a frantic search, my package of papers from the class. I am usually pretty good about taking notes in a class, but this one had been very hands-on... and I hadn't written much on my papers. I had copied a couple of extra patterns, and I thought I remembered most of it. So away I went.
The directions did tell me what I needed and I had everything except a package of dressmakers carbon which I found at Fabricville here in town. I wondered how old it was, when the pattern would NOT transfer... however, once I figured out that I had it upside down, I was far more successful. I got the first pattern (the chrysanthemum, which looks EXACTLY like a fan...) transferred, put the batting on the back, pinned the four corners and away I went.
The next pattern was the Seven Treasures of Buddha - overlapping circles. No problem. I have a mug from a church kitchen that I traded one of my own mugs for because it is exactly the right size to trace these circles with. When I got that pattern stitched, I ran into a hitch... I had forgotten that the pattern really should have been transferred onto the fabric before the batting was attached... darn! This suddenly became much more difficult.
I got the butterfly transferred by, more or less, drawing it free hand, quilted it, and then, with more difficulty, I managed the hemp leaves which are a series of straight lines, which were easier to trace than they were to draw.
Then, because I didn't want to make exactly the same one I had done before, I decided that I would like to do a different pattern - one I had never made - and didn't have the pattern for. Sometimes these brilliant ideas of mine backfire a bit. This was one of those times. So far, instead of taking two days, the wall hanging had taken about a week. I had one part left to do -and I found a pattern that I loved that I had pinned on Pinterest. It looks like a curved Y (sort of) and the curved parts all make interlocking but incomplete circles. I have always had a good eye for patterns and I blithely assumed that I would be able to recreate this, no problem.
Well. I fiddled. I sketched. I got the template plastic and I traced a couple of shapes. After an hour and a half, ON PAPER, I finally managed to recreate the pattern in some sort of reasonable manner. (It only took me about 20 minutes to stitch the pattern once I had it drawn!) And, after only one week, my two day project was ready for binding.
Mom's birthday was Saturday and the Sashiko was finished and wrapped in lots of time. She unwrapped it, held it up and informed me that she loved it, weren't the colours lovely! I suggested that she turn it around, she might like the front even more. (The back is completely plain as it is put on after the stitching is all done.) And when she had done that she agreed that it was beautiful. (She was 87 years old - we'll cut her some slack!) Now that I have Mom's sashiko done, I have discovered a wonderful tutorial on-line that would have been a big help if I had looked at it BEFORE I started. However, you can't have everything!
I have since made three sashiko mug rugs - and I'm getting better at doing them and am enjoying them more and more each time. :-) It is still taking me a bit of time to get the pattern drawn onto the fabric - and I tend to have to replenish it partway through - but I am happier and happier with each one I make.
And on Monday, my friend Barb showed me a book with beautiful patterns in it... LOL Also too late - but a wonderful inspiration! In any event, I am having a lovely time immersed in hand work - not my usual forte - but they are small, portable and now that I have some patterns shrunk down for the mug rugs, easy and quick! Whatever you are working on, I wish you much joy AND completed projects!!
Here's Mom's Sashiko - the pattern that gave me such a hard time is in the upper left hand corner...
Here is a close up of that pattern. The 'fan' is actually a chrysanthemum. :-)
Last spring my mother asked me for a Sashiko. She liked my wall hanging and would like to have one done on blue fabric (which is actually the traditional colour.) Shortly thereafter, I bought some dark blue plain cotton and some actual Sashiko thread at Avonport Discount Fabric. I know that it was made for sashiko because it was with kits of pre-stamped sashiko fabric. All of the writing on the package was in Japanese and the only part that I could read was 100 - which I presumed to say 100% cotton.
In September (her birthday is in October) I remembered her request, found the fabric, the thread and, after a frantic search, my package of papers from the class. I am usually pretty good about taking notes in a class, but this one had been very hands-on... and I hadn't written much on my papers. I had copied a couple of extra patterns, and I thought I remembered most of it. So away I went.
The directions did tell me what I needed and I had everything except a package of dressmakers carbon which I found at Fabricville here in town. I wondered how old it was, when the pattern would NOT transfer... however, once I figured out that I had it upside down, I was far more successful. I got the first pattern (the chrysanthemum, which looks EXACTLY like a fan...) transferred, put the batting on the back, pinned the four corners and away I went.
The next pattern was the Seven Treasures of Buddha - overlapping circles. No problem. I have a mug from a church kitchen that I traded one of my own mugs for because it is exactly the right size to trace these circles with. When I got that pattern stitched, I ran into a hitch... I had forgotten that the pattern really should have been transferred onto the fabric before the batting was attached... darn! This suddenly became much more difficult.
I got the butterfly transferred by, more or less, drawing it free hand, quilted it, and then, with more difficulty, I managed the hemp leaves which are a series of straight lines, which were easier to trace than they were to draw.
Then, because I didn't want to make exactly the same one I had done before, I decided that I would like to do a different pattern - one I had never made - and didn't have the pattern for. Sometimes these brilliant ideas of mine backfire a bit. This was one of those times. So far, instead of taking two days, the wall hanging had taken about a week. I had one part left to do -and I found a pattern that I loved that I had pinned on Pinterest. It looks like a curved Y (sort of) and the curved parts all make interlocking but incomplete circles. I have always had a good eye for patterns and I blithely assumed that I would be able to recreate this, no problem.
Well. I fiddled. I sketched. I got the template plastic and I traced a couple of shapes. After an hour and a half, ON PAPER, I finally managed to recreate the pattern in some sort of reasonable manner. (It only took me about 20 minutes to stitch the pattern once I had it drawn!) And, after only one week, my two day project was ready for binding.
Mom's birthday was Saturday and the Sashiko was finished and wrapped in lots of time. She unwrapped it, held it up and informed me that she loved it, weren't the colours lovely! I suggested that she turn it around, she might like the front even more. (The back is completely plain as it is put on after the stitching is all done.) And when she had done that she agreed that it was beautiful. (She was 87 years old - we'll cut her some slack!) Now that I have Mom's sashiko done, I have discovered a wonderful tutorial on-line that would have been a big help if I had looked at it BEFORE I started. However, you can't have everything!
I have since made three sashiko mug rugs - and I'm getting better at doing them and am enjoying them more and more each time. :-) It is still taking me a bit of time to get the pattern drawn onto the fabric - and I tend to have to replenish it partway through - but I am happier and happier with each one I make.
And on Monday, my friend Barb showed me a book with beautiful patterns in it... LOL Also too late - but a wonderful inspiration! In any event, I am having a lovely time immersed in hand work - not my usual forte - but they are small, portable and now that I have some patterns shrunk down for the mug rugs, easy and quick! Whatever you are working on, I wish you much joy AND completed projects!!
Saturday, 16 February 2013
Just normal
Every month I write a page long article or essay on the topic of quilting... And it gets published in the newsletter of the Common Thread Quilt Guild in Ottawa, where I was a member before I moved away... this is the article I wrote for March 2013. I am currently visiting my son, his wife and my two grandsons, so I actually made it to the Guild meeting as a guest this week past. They had the BEST Show and Share I have ever seen... In any event, here's the article:
I have been listening to new podcasts
this week, while I am away from my sewing machine. I was listening to
one that relates to quilting and the interviewer asked the
interviewee what she was working on. And the interviewee (whose name
I did not catch, but who was a blogger who details her progress
on-line) proceeded to talk about the quilts that she was working on.
And she sounded embarrassed to admit that she had about 5 quilts in
progress AT THE SAME TIME. I thought the interviewer (also a quilter)
handled the whole thing very well, because she said to her, "Oh,
you are just normal, then!"
I have written musings on this topic
before. I think I mentioned the woman in the fabric store who only
allows herself to buy the fabric to make ONE project at a time. And
her personal rule is, she must finish that project before she goes on
to do another. (I have to say, if I worked in a fabric store this
would be the only way that I would ever get to take home a
paycheck... otherwise I would just sign the thing over, and walk out
with additions to my stash...)
I have many quilting friends. And I
don't think I know ANYONE else who follows that personal rule. I love
to have several projects on the go (as long as they don't get too far
ahead of me, of course!) I like to have something that I am binding,
something that I am cutting, something that I am planning, something
that I am piecing (although that stage usually gets me so excited
that I forge on with it and get it quilted and the binding on there)
AND something all ready to quilt. (I'm not keen on having something
ready to go onto the frame - but I am pretty pleased with myself when
I have something ON the frame, ready to go!) I'm also pretty enthused
about having something that I am learning on the go too, something
new to me... I'm beginning to think about what to do with these
one-off blocks...
Each stage in a quilt is different. The
nice thing about binding something is that that is a portable project
(when so many quilting things are not!) And, of course, when the
binding is done the quilt is finished too. (Usually) The nice thing
about cutting is that once the pieces go on the design wall, you
begin to see how the quilt is going to look when it is all finished.
The nice thing about piecing is that it works up so fast and you can
see progress happening before your very eyes, and the nice thing
about planning is that it is SO exciting!!! And the quilting itself
is wonderful (when everything goes well) because you are beginning to
finish the quilt! I love all those steps and I feel eager to get on
with each one of them. And I might actually get bored with working on
the same quilt or project. Sometimes I intermix projects as a reward.
Do this boring bag, and you can be rewarded by starting that pretty
baby quilt... or make these three blocks, so that you can be rewarded
by taking this quilting class and starting THAT neat project!
Interspersing steps means that I will shortly have two exciting
projects done rather than one that I have gotten slightly tired of
working on!
I know that there are people who work
so hard on something, or they find it so difficult, or they are so
worried that it isn't perfect that they grow to hate a project; and
as a result it goes under the bed or in a box and never gets
finished. I have never had this happen with quilting. It may be
because I don't tend to let projects carry on too long -- so I don't
get tired of them. I have made a few projects where I will never do
again (stack and whack comes to mind) but I finished them (and gave
them away!)
So here's the point of this diatribe:
Normal is defined as: conforming to the standard or the common type;
usual; not abnomal; regular; natural. By this definition, if you have
several projects on the go (and even a few that aren't actually going
anywhere) then you are absolutely NORMAL!!
So, I would like to invite you to
embrace your normalcy, enjoy your quilting and have fun!!
Friday, 1 February 2013
Just having a baby...
Okay. Technically, I'm not having a baby. My daughter-in-law had the baby. And she had him early this morning and it was VERY exciting!!! I can hardly wait to meet him in person - just a few more days.
But it brought home to me the differences between having a baby NOW and having a baby 33 years ago in another country.
When I was pregnant for my oldest child (the Boy in question) we lived in West Germany. Beloved Dearly was in Canada's armed forces and the Canadian Forces hospital - the MIR (Medical Inspection Room) was considered Canadian soil so that our babies would be Canadian. I think that had only happened about three years before the Boy was born.... My girl friend had a baby who was in the breech position (bum down instead of head first, in case you don't know and care) and ended up having her baby in the German Krankenhaus - and her baby was NOT Canadian - I believe she had the right to chose when she turned 18 years old.
When I went into labour for the Boy (and we didn't KNOW we were having a boy), we were visiting friends. I was 11 days overdue and I felt and looked like I had swallowed an watermelon (and a large one at that!) intact! Around midnight my contractions were 2 minutes apart (and they remained 2 minutes apart from then until the Boy was born!) We had been told to go into the hospital if our water broke, if our contractions were really strong, or if they got closer together than 10 minutes apart. So off we went. I was in the mildest possible labour - but who knew? Certainly not me!
So we spent the night in the hospital, waiting. I dozed off and on, but poor Beloved was required to hold my hand! He tried to eat my breakfast (I certainly wasn't going to be able to) but he couldn't eat it one handed and I couldn't not hold his hand.
The Boy was born at 9:33 in the morning... and Beloved went off to let them know at work where he was and then to call the Grandparents to tell them the news.
This was 1980 - not the dark ages, but I would like to point out some things that I remember. We had a computer. It had NO memory at all. I don't think floppy disks were invented - but if they were they certainly weren't in any one's home... We connected it to the tv and you had to program it using Basic.
Cell phones had not been invented yet. Because we were overseas we didn't even have a telephone in our house. There were no such thing as 'long distance plans'. Canada's phone companies held a monopoly. There was no competitive pricing and long distance was EXPENSIVE. In Germany it cost a lot of money to have a phone put in, so we didn't have one. Neither did any of our friends.
If you wanted to make a long distance call you either took all your German coins (Deutschmarks) and went to the Internationaler Fernsprecher (as far as I can remember the spelling) (The international telephone booth) and you fed the slot coins. When it beeped, you either fed it more coins or you hung up! Or you went to one of the Messes or the Salvation Army Gift Shop and booked an overseas call. Beloved headed off to the Salvation Army. You wrote the number in a book. The lady at the shop called the overseas operator and booked the call. You waited until they called back to say they had the line. You made your call, the overseas operator called back when you were done and told the lady at the gift shop how much you owed for the call and you paid her - in CASH - Bank cards had not been invented yet!
Beloved called my parents and his parents and told them the news!!
The following words had not been invented in 1980:
Internet
Wifi
Cellphone
Tablet (other than a portable blackboard and chalk!)
Android (at least not in the context of a tablet)
operating system
facebook
facebook status
notification
laptop
pm (or private messaging)
reboot
chat (in the context of computers)
apps
email
The Boy's second son was born this morning at 0120 in a hospital in a different province. Around 5:30 yesterday evening the Boy sent me an EMAIL to say that they were at the hospital; his DW's (Dear Wife, in case this isn't familiar to you!) water might have broken and they would keep us posted. He had her CELL PHONE and he would send me an EMAIL from it. (Even that sort of blows my mind, really!)
Around 8 pm (I'm guessing at the time, I'm tired now and my brain is not working so well!) I opened FACEBOOK to check on my friend's STATUSes, and discovered that the Boy was using his DW's FACEBOOK account to CHAT with me, over her CELL PHONE... She was definitely in labour, had gone 11 days early with our first grandson and, here we were 11 days early now. He would keep me informed.
I decided that I would turn on my TABLET. It is WIFI and so I would easily be able to carry it around with me. I turned it on, and turned on GMAIL, where I could access FACEBOOK - only to discover eventually (after running back into the kitchen every time there was a NOTIFICATION - which makes a little chiming noise) that I needed to use another APP to read my PRIVATE MESSAGES on FACEBOOK. Once I got the tablet REBOOTED and the new APP open, I was fine. When the Boy sent me a message, it would appear on my TABLET (which has the ANDROID operating system) in real time...
Did I mention that my mind was blown, just a bit?
Anyway. We chatted unil 02:33 (my time) when suddenly he introduced the baby, told me that he had been born very fast, the doctor had nearly missed the delivery, and that his DW and new Son were doing fine.
I reminded him to take pictures. And he told me there was one in my email!! They had taken a picture with the CAMERA in her CELL PHONE and had EMAILED it to me. OMG!
By the time the baby was weighed, it was 03:30 in the morning. I had seen a picture of him, heard how things went as they were happening, had his name and weight, and had reported all the info to Beloved.
Can you imagine? I don't know how long it was before my parents got a picture of the Boy - but it was at least two weeks!!!
Anyway, those are some thoughts on how technology has changed my life. This morning before I left to play cards with my Mom and Dad, the Boy chatted via gmail just to give us an update. And he suggested a VIDEO CALL. We saw our older grandson (not quite two years old - his life is about to make a radical change!) and heard him speak some words! We spoke with the Boy who got 1 hour's sleep last night, but was doing laundry and then going to head back to the hospital for visiting hours and to take the big brother in to meet the new baby brother... As I sat there, watching him talk on the screen of my laptop, like something out a black and white science fiction movie I thought to myself; "What a difference thirty years makes!!"
:-)
But it brought home to me the differences between having a baby NOW and having a baby 33 years ago in another country.
When I was pregnant for my oldest child (the Boy in question) we lived in West Germany. Beloved Dearly was in Canada's armed forces and the Canadian Forces hospital - the MIR (Medical Inspection Room) was considered Canadian soil so that our babies would be Canadian. I think that had only happened about three years before the Boy was born.... My girl friend had a baby who was in the breech position (bum down instead of head first, in case you don't know and care) and ended up having her baby in the German Krankenhaus - and her baby was NOT Canadian - I believe she had the right to chose when she turned 18 years old.
When I went into labour for the Boy (and we didn't KNOW we were having a boy), we were visiting friends. I was 11 days overdue and I felt and looked like I had swallowed an watermelon (and a large one at that!) intact! Around midnight my contractions were 2 minutes apart (and they remained 2 minutes apart from then until the Boy was born!) We had been told to go into the hospital if our water broke, if our contractions were really strong, or if they got closer together than 10 minutes apart. So off we went. I was in the mildest possible labour - but who knew? Certainly not me!
So we spent the night in the hospital, waiting. I dozed off and on, but poor Beloved was required to hold my hand! He tried to eat my breakfast (I certainly wasn't going to be able to) but he couldn't eat it one handed and I couldn't not hold his hand.
The Boy was born at 9:33 in the morning... and Beloved went off to let them know at work where he was and then to call the Grandparents to tell them the news.
This was 1980 - not the dark ages, but I would like to point out some things that I remember. We had a computer. It had NO memory at all. I don't think floppy disks were invented - but if they were they certainly weren't in any one's home... We connected it to the tv and you had to program it using Basic.
Cell phones had not been invented yet. Because we were overseas we didn't even have a telephone in our house. There were no such thing as 'long distance plans'. Canada's phone companies held a monopoly. There was no competitive pricing and long distance was EXPENSIVE. In Germany it cost a lot of money to have a phone put in, so we didn't have one. Neither did any of our friends.
If you wanted to make a long distance call you either took all your German coins (Deutschmarks) and went to the Internationaler Fernsprecher (as far as I can remember the spelling) (The international telephone booth) and you fed the slot coins. When it beeped, you either fed it more coins or you hung up! Or you went to one of the Messes or the Salvation Army Gift Shop and booked an overseas call. Beloved headed off to the Salvation Army. You wrote the number in a book. The lady at the shop called the overseas operator and booked the call. You waited until they called back to say they had the line. You made your call, the overseas operator called back when you were done and told the lady at the gift shop how much you owed for the call and you paid her - in CASH - Bank cards had not been invented yet!
Beloved called my parents and his parents and told them the news!!
The following words had not been invented in 1980:
Internet
Wifi
Cellphone
Tablet (other than a portable blackboard and chalk!)
Android (at least not in the context of a tablet)
operating system
facebook status
notification
laptop
pm (or private messaging)
reboot
chat (in the context of computers)
apps
The Boy's second son was born this morning at 0120 in a hospital in a different province. Around 5:30 yesterday evening the Boy sent me an EMAIL to say that they were at the hospital; his DW's (Dear Wife, in case this isn't familiar to you!) water might have broken and they would keep us posted. He had her CELL PHONE and he would send me an EMAIL from it. (Even that sort of blows my mind, really!)
Around 8 pm (I'm guessing at the time, I'm tired now and my brain is not working so well!) I opened FACEBOOK to check on my friend's STATUSes, and discovered that the Boy was using his DW's FACEBOOK account to CHAT with me, over her CELL PHONE... She was definitely in labour, had gone 11 days early with our first grandson and, here we were 11 days early now. He would keep me informed.
I decided that I would turn on my TABLET. It is WIFI and so I would easily be able to carry it around with me. I turned it on, and turned on GMAIL, where I could access FACEBOOK - only to discover eventually (after running back into the kitchen every time there was a NOTIFICATION - which makes a little chiming noise) that I needed to use another APP to read my PRIVATE MESSAGES on FACEBOOK. Once I got the tablet REBOOTED and the new APP open, I was fine. When the Boy sent me a message, it would appear on my TABLET (which has the ANDROID operating system) in real time...
Did I mention that my mind was blown, just a bit?
Anyway. We chatted unil 02:33 (my time) when suddenly he introduced the baby, told me that he had been born very fast, the doctor had nearly missed the delivery, and that his DW and new Son were doing fine.
I reminded him to take pictures. And he told me there was one in my email!! They had taken a picture with the CAMERA in her CELL PHONE and had EMAILED it to me. OMG!
By the time the baby was weighed, it was 03:30 in the morning. I had seen a picture of him, heard how things went as they were happening, had his name and weight, and had reported all the info to Beloved.
Can you imagine? I don't know how long it was before my parents got a picture of the Boy - but it was at least two weeks!!!
Anyway, those are some thoughts on how technology has changed my life. This morning before I left to play cards with my Mom and Dad, the Boy chatted via gmail just to give us an update. And he suggested a VIDEO CALL. We saw our older grandson (not quite two years old - his life is about to make a radical change!) and heard him speak some words! We spoke with the Boy who got 1 hour's sleep last night, but was doing laundry and then going to head back to the hospital for visiting hours and to take the big brother in to meet the new baby brother... As I sat there, watching him talk on the screen of my laptop, like something out a black and white science fiction movie I thought to myself; "What a difference thirty years makes!!"
:-)
Friday, 18 January 2013
Just walkin'
Before we moved away from Ottawa, Barry and I bought a treadmill. It is quite a nice one, and once I got to the point where I could balance on it, I quite liked it.
I don't mind walking... but here's the thing. It is boring. And it takes some time. When we first got the treadmill iPods hadn't been invented yet. (What medieval times did we come from!!! Wowsers!)
In any event. I discovered that I couldn't hear, over the sound of the treadmill, ANYTHING - so listening to an audio book wasn't going to work. Music had to be turned up so loud that the roof tiles were dancing (and the treadmill was in the basement) and I was busy. I wanted to get this walk over with!
At the same time, I had a friend who was taking the Running Room's running course (come to find out, I had another future friend taking it with her.) I couldn't IMAGINE how a running course could possibly work. I couldn't have worked another class or activity into my schedule anyway, but I spoke with my friend about how a running class worked and decided to give it a try on my own.
I liked the idea of doing it on the treadmill because it meant that there was no time getting TO the class. I didn't have to be ON TIME for a class. AND if I had a heart attack jogging, I could toddle (I hoped) over to the phone and call 911 before I collapsed. Same if I twisted my ankle...
Anyway. I was pretty good about going on the treadmill and eventually I got to the point where I could run for 5 km without stopping (I think I did that twice). Then we got ready to move, and the treadmill became a feeble voice in the basement, occasionally calling, but easily ignored.
We moved, finished the basement of the house ourselves, stored the treadmill in the exercise room down there, and I became busy in our new community. Barry used the treadmill and his bowflex religiously for a year or so. And then they began to sit. I joined Tai Chi, which I love. I think it is good for me - it is the only exercise that makes me work my brain as well as my body.
In December, Barry came out of the den and spoke to me, while I had my left hand on the top cupboard door handle. And, without letting go of the cupboard, I twisted around to look at him. And something in my left shoulder made a funny noise. Then I made a funny noise. Mine sounded sort of like 'ouch'.
I took a week off of Tai Chi. And then I went, only to discover that my left arm did NOT want to be held up at shoulder height AT ANY TIME. I stayed for the first hour of the class and then came home. The following week, I stayed home too. And then there was a two week break over Christmas. The first Thursday after that (Yes, there is a point to this!) we had had snow on top of warm ground and then the air temperature had dropped. Barry had gone out to polish off the driveway, and when he came in, he announced that it was VERY slippery.
Our house has a sort of longish driveway, with a ditch on either side of the end of it, (or the beginning, I suppose, depending on which direction you are going!) and a ditch on the other side of the road. We have a full size pickup... which I was not eager to test for ditch-worthiness. (This is the point where the story starts to gain some relevance, by the way!) So, I got dressed in my Tai Chi outfit and I went downstairs to the treadmill and I walked for 55 minutes. I probably should have started with a shorter time, but I would have been at Tai Chi for 2 hours, so I wanted to actually use up some of that time. I went 5 km. (When I came upstairs Barry asked how far I had gone. So for a lark, I told him 1 1/2 km... Before he could get a full on rant going {what were you doing down there for so long if you only went 1 1/2 km} I managed to get him stopped, told him I was pulling his leg and that I had gone 5 km. I was soaking with sweat - I may be out of shape, but it wasn't quite THAT badly out of shape!)
I had been thinking about a facebook friend of mine who has been walking this year past. So I marked on the calendar, the distance that I had walked. I walked on the Friday as well; 3 km. Saturday we went shopping. I have no idea how far we walked, but we were out of the house for hours, and we had cat litter, cat food, $400+ of groceries, had returned two things, visited 7 stores, and I was absolutely exhausted. Sunday I walked. In fact, except for Thursday, I walked every day this week. Thursday I went to Tai Chi. And there is only one jong I can't do. Today my left arm feels better than ever, so I seem to be on the road to recovery!!
Unbeknownst to me, my friend achieved a personal goal TODAY - she walked more than 1000 km over the course of the last year; this was her one year anniversary. She did some incredible number of laps in a domed walking oval in her hometown in Ontario and she has been reporting on her walks, off and on, all year. She had set some goal for her birthday and more than met it.
I do not aspire to walking 1000 km - that goal seems too high for me at this point. But I am proud of my friend and was inspired by her to get going!! I'll let you know how it goes... Tomorrow, if I find time to walk 3 km, I will have completed my first 25 km! :-)
I don't mind walking... but here's the thing. It is boring. And it takes some time. When we first got the treadmill iPods hadn't been invented yet. (What medieval times did we come from!!! Wowsers!)
In any event. I discovered that I couldn't hear, over the sound of the treadmill, ANYTHING - so listening to an audio book wasn't going to work. Music had to be turned up so loud that the roof tiles were dancing (and the treadmill was in the basement) and I was busy. I wanted to get this walk over with!
At the same time, I had a friend who was taking the Running Room's running course (come to find out, I had another future friend taking it with her.) I couldn't IMAGINE how a running course could possibly work. I couldn't have worked another class or activity into my schedule anyway, but I spoke with my friend about how a running class worked and decided to give it a try on my own.
I liked the idea of doing it on the treadmill because it meant that there was no time getting TO the class. I didn't have to be ON TIME for a class. AND if I had a heart attack jogging, I could toddle (I hoped) over to the phone and call 911 before I collapsed. Same if I twisted my ankle...
Anyway. I was pretty good about going on the treadmill and eventually I got to the point where I could run for 5 km without stopping (I think I did that twice). Then we got ready to move, and the treadmill became a feeble voice in the basement, occasionally calling, but easily ignored.
We moved, finished the basement of the house ourselves, stored the treadmill in the exercise room down there, and I became busy in our new community. Barry used the treadmill and his bowflex religiously for a year or so. And then they began to sit. I joined Tai Chi, which I love. I think it is good for me - it is the only exercise that makes me work my brain as well as my body.
In December, Barry came out of the den and spoke to me, while I had my left hand on the top cupboard door handle. And, without letting go of the cupboard, I twisted around to look at him. And something in my left shoulder made a funny noise. Then I made a funny noise. Mine sounded sort of like 'ouch'.
I took a week off of Tai Chi. And then I went, only to discover that my left arm did NOT want to be held up at shoulder height AT ANY TIME. I stayed for the first hour of the class and then came home. The following week, I stayed home too. And then there was a two week break over Christmas. The first Thursday after that (Yes, there is a point to this!) we had had snow on top of warm ground and then the air temperature had dropped. Barry had gone out to polish off the driveway, and when he came in, he announced that it was VERY slippery.
Our house has a sort of longish driveway, with a ditch on either side of the end of it, (or the beginning, I suppose, depending on which direction you are going!) and a ditch on the other side of the road. We have a full size pickup... which I was not eager to test for ditch-worthiness. (This is the point where the story starts to gain some relevance, by the way!) So, I got dressed in my Tai Chi outfit and I went downstairs to the treadmill and I walked for 55 minutes. I probably should have started with a shorter time, but I would have been at Tai Chi for 2 hours, so I wanted to actually use up some of that time. I went 5 km. (When I came upstairs Barry asked how far I had gone. So for a lark, I told him 1 1/2 km... Before he could get a full on rant going {what were you doing down there for so long if you only went 1 1/2 km} I managed to get him stopped, told him I was pulling his leg and that I had gone 5 km. I was soaking with sweat - I may be out of shape, but it wasn't quite THAT badly out of shape!)
I had been thinking about a facebook friend of mine who has been walking this year past. So I marked on the calendar, the distance that I had walked. I walked on the Friday as well; 3 km. Saturday we went shopping. I have no idea how far we walked, but we were out of the house for hours, and we had cat litter, cat food, $400+ of groceries, had returned two things, visited 7 stores, and I was absolutely exhausted. Sunday I walked. In fact, except for Thursday, I walked every day this week. Thursday I went to Tai Chi. And there is only one jong I can't do. Today my left arm feels better than ever, so I seem to be on the road to recovery!!
Unbeknownst to me, my friend achieved a personal goal TODAY - she walked more than 1000 km over the course of the last year; this was her one year anniversary. She did some incredible number of laps in a domed walking oval in her hometown in Ontario and she has been reporting on her walks, off and on, all year. She had set some goal for her birthday and more than met it.
I do not aspire to walking 1000 km - that goal seems too high for me at this point. But I am proud of my friend and was inspired by her to get going!! I'll let you know how it goes... Tomorrow, if I find time to walk 3 km, I will have completed my first 25 km! :-)
Monday, 14 January 2013
Just fun...
Okay, I have been thinking about "FUN" all day. I have to take a photo of 'fun', and I'm having trouble.
This is how Dictionary dot com defines fun:
This is an awfully dark picture of it, and it hasn't been sewn together yet - it is just on the design wall... When it is done it will be roughly 24 inches square... see why it is called the Big Star Block? And the quilt will have 4 of them!
This is how Dictionary dot com defines fun:
1. something that provides mirth or amusement: A picnic would be fun.
It has been a busy grey day - the temperature was above freezing by 7 C degrees or about 14 F degrees (making it around 46 F for those of you who are math challenged... [I had written 52 at first, so I was poking fun at myself more than at anyone reading this who is not accustomed to performing routine metric conversions - or who can not add 32 and 14 - which, evidently, includes me...]). I went out of the house for half an hour and then came home and did my three kilometers on the treadmill, and then carefully cut out twice as much fabric as I needed for my current project. And then I couldn't figure out why I had so many units... Better too many than too few! :-)
So, here's the question, What would fun be? Fun for me would be a day in which I had no unpleasant responsibilities. It would be fun to get together with my friends! It would be fun to go to the beach with my camera. It would be fun to go to a fabric store with an unlimited budget!! (Oooo, that would be SO FUN! I would invite my friends to go with me and when we were done FILLING my pickup with fabric, we could go for coffee!!!)
Doing the laundry is not fun. (It isn't a terrible chore either, because I don't actually have to take the clothes down to the river and bang them on rocks - which is good, as the water is likely quite chilly!)
It was fun to put together my third Big Star Block. After I am finished writing this, I will head downstairs, trim another one and then play with the layout of the quilt. THAT is FUN!!
It was fun to play Candy Crush (a terrible time waster, but I like it anyway) and actually complete a level!! I actually took a picture of that! :-)
It was fun to watch an episode of Big Bang Theory (we got a season for Christmas, and we are really enjoying them!) We have been invited out to play Euchre (a card game) tomorrow evening, and that will be fun - unfortunately, it is not today! LOL
Writing this is fun. I'm not sure why. But it is satisfying to get something down that is in my head!!!
There are lots of things that I enjoy. I'm not sure that enjoyment is the same thing as fun. Is it fun to drink my coffee in the morning? It is FUN to share my enjoyment of coffee with my facebook friends - and to hunt up cool coffee memes to share! THAT is fun!
I hope you had fun reading this. This completes my week of daily blog posts and I've had fun writing them. I don't know whether I will write one a day, but I have fun writing them so I'm sure there will be more!!
Enjoy!!
Sunday, 13 January 2013
Just another low carb recipe...
Varm Milch, perhaps?
I eat low carb. And once in awhile I take a high carb (ie, normal) recipe and redo it.
I wanted something warm to drink that was not caffeinated and non-alcoholic... So I looked up warm milk.
And I found grandma's recipe... which has rather alot of honey in it. I didn't care much for honey when I was not low carb, and I can't have it now... so this is what I did to modify it...
Oh, and the name of it is an homage to Young Frankenstein.
Varm Milch, perhaps?
(No, thank you, Frau Brucker! Neeeeiiiiigggghhhh!)
1 1/2 c. half and half (in the Maritimes that is called Blend, don't know why. In any event, 10% fat cream)
2 T Splenda
1 t. vanilla
pinch of cinnamon
Add Splenda to the cream, give it a stir and heat it in the microwave on 70% for 2 minutes.
Remove from microwave and pour into a mug. Stir in vanilla. Sprinkle on cinnamon. Enjoy!
It is really nice.
This is a short note tonight, but a note nonetheless!
I eat low carb. And once in awhile I take a high carb (ie, normal) recipe and redo it.
I wanted something warm to drink that was not caffeinated and non-alcoholic... So I looked up warm milk.
And I found grandma's recipe... which has rather alot of honey in it. I didn't care much for honey when I was not low carb, and I can't have it now... so this is what I did to modify it...
Oh, and the name of it is an homage to Young Frankenstein.
Varm Milch, perhaps?
(No, thank you, Frau Brucker! Neeeeiiiiigggghhhh!)
1 1/2 c. half and half (in the Maritimes that is called Blend, don't know why. In any event, 10% fat cream)
2 T Splenda
1 t. vanilla
pinch of cinnamon
Add Splenda to the cream, give it a stir and heat it in the microwave on 70% for 2 minutes.
Remove from microwave and pour into a mug. Stir in vanilla. Sprinkle on cinnamon. Enjoy!
It is really nice.
This is a short note tonight, but a note nonetheless!
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